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Investors Want to Read Articles from Advisors

There is a popular point of view, more likely to come from older people, that “nobody reads anymore”.

If that were true, YouTube and Instagram would be the only social media sites in existence.

People still read, and thanks to the endless availability of material via the internet, accessed constantly on smartphone or tablet, more reading is done today than perhaps ever before.

That is certainly true among investors. Information is key to making wise investment choices, and investors are constantly looking for information that will help them with their investment decisions.

Whether it be in the form of articles written from an objective viewpoint, or blogs that offer the opinions of the writer, investors read whatever they can find on financial matters, products and services.

In fact, they want to read what their advisor has to say on those subjects. Do you offer them the articles and blogs they are looking for on your own website, or on your social media pages, where investors are looking for this information?

“Some investors are voracious in their reading habits,’’ said Spectrem president George H. Walper Jr. “They certainly want to read these articles and blogs on the website of people they trust, such as their advisor, or established financial media. But they will read whatever they can find on social media sites as well, especially if the information comes from a source they recognize, including their financial advisor.”

Spectrem’s new wealth segmentation series study on how modern technology impacts investment matters, Using Social Media and Mobile Technology in Financial Decisions, demonstrates just how much interest exists among investors in articles and blogs on financial matters, and how much interest there is in finding those materials on social media.

Asked their interest in reading financial blogs or articles about financial topics on specific web addresses, Millionaire investors with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million rated their interest in reading material on their financial provider’s website at 52.40, the highest rating among seven choices.

Rated just below that was the website of major financial media sites (like CNBC or FoxBusiness), and other financial websites. Among social media sites, the most popular site for finding articles or blogs on financial matters was Twitter, followed by LinkedIn, YouTube and then Facebook.

The difference between articles and blogs has no clear definition, but is mostly understood to be this: articles are informational, and can be lengthy, whereas blogs are opinion based on fact, and are usually shorter. Some advisors, and financial provider firms, may be more comfortable offering factual articles (and those can be articles written from other sources) while some advisors might be comfortable offering their opinion on financial matters of the day in blog form.

While advisors should provide articles and blogs on their own website, where they can hope investors would click on other pages related to products and services, there are investors who peruse social media first, and constantly. Advisors and financial providers should consider placing their articles and blogs on social media as well, as a way to get the attention of the investor and get them over to the website of the advisor.

Top Takeaways for Advisors

It might seem counter-intuitive to post an article on both your own website and on social media sites, as it appears to be giving something away for free. But the idea is to gain attention to your website, and anything that can draw an investor to your company’s site is encouraged.

Although it might seem that there are financial matters that do not require the attention of an article or blog, almost any topic from financial affairs is going to have some investor interested and looking for information. Few topics in investment and financial circles are both cut and dried and simple. Any information you or your firm can add to the discussion would be read.

About Us

Spectrem Group strategically analyzes its ongoing primary research with investors to assist financial providers and advisors in understanding the Voice of the Investor.